Development of the attitude toward mediation scale

• Published date: 01 May 2023
• Author: Valerie Helsen
• Date: 01 May 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/crq.21380

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Development of the attitude toward

mediation scale

Valerie Helsen

Department of Criminal Law and

Criminology, Leuven Institute for

Criminology, KU Leuven, Leuven,

Belgium

Correspondence

Valerie Helsen, Department of Criminal

Law and Criminology, KU Leuven,

Belgium.

Email: valerie.helsen@kuleuven.be

Abstract

Mediation is a form of alternative dispute resolution that

has been acclaimed for its effectiveness in reaching

settlement—as well as relationship-oriented goals, as

well as for being faster and cheaper than a judicial pro-

cedure. However, despite mediation's rising popularity

and use, the success of its uptake remains limited, with

large local differences in implementation rates. While

attitude has been regarded consistently as a predictor of

behavior, researchers currently lack a reliable and vali-

dated way of assessing attitude toward mediation in the

general population. Therefore, this study aimed to

develop and psychometrically evaluate a measure to

assess attitude toward mediation. The Attitude toward

Mediation Scale (AMS) was developed by integrating the

attitude and mediation literature and by adapting

established attitude measures to reflect attitudes toward

mediation. Based on data collected between April

15, 2021 and April 26, 2021 in 1220 Flemish adults (1004

women, 213 men, 3 nonbinary adults) between the ages

of 18 and 80 (M =42.57, SD =14.51), results provided

initial support for the reliability and construct validity of

the AMS. In addition, while the attitude toward media-

tion was generally positive, results indicated that women

reported more positive attitudes than men, and that as

age, level of education, and knowledge of mediation

increased, the attitude toward mediation was more posi-

tive. We hope this measure encourages future

researchers to study the association between attitude

Received: 20 September 2022 Revised: 21 March 2023 Accepted: 23 March 2023

DOI: 10.1002/crq.21380

Conflict Resolution Quarterly. 2023;40:447–465. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/crq © 2023 Wiley Periodicals LLC. 447

toward mediation and its uptake, increasing the under-

standing of its varying implementation rates.

1|INTRODUCTION

Mediation is a formof alternative dispute resolution in which parties jointly, voluntarily, and with

the facilitation of an independent and multi-partial mediator try to resolve their dispute. Media-

tion has been acclaimed as an effective way of resolving disputes in a variety of settings

(e.g., workplace mediation, divorce mediation), with between 39% and 93% of mediations ending

in an agreement (bMediation, 2016; Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution [CEDR], 2020;

Wall & Dunne, 2012). Additionally, mediation has been praised for being faster and cheaper than

a judicial procedure (Emery et al., 2005; Wall & Dunne, 2012), increasing compliance with the

agreement and satisfaction over the process and outcome (Emery et al., 2005;Shaw,2010), giving

parties control over the dispute resolution process and adaptively allowing additional non-

settlement oriented goals to be addressed (e.g., improving parties' relationship and communica-

tion; Baitar et al., 2016; Poitras, 2010).

However, while its popularity and use have been rising internationally (e.g., an increase of 38%

in England and Wales between 2018 and 2020; CEDR, 2020), the number of mediations taking

place yearly remains remarkably low (e.g., about 5037 in Belgium; bMediation, 2016)compared

with the amount of orders and judgments being passed each year by the courts and tribunals

(e.g., 1 million in Belgium; Geens, 2015). In addition to this global trend, there are local differ-

ences in prevalence rates of the implementation of mediation, with a remarkable example in

Belgium (about 5037 mediations taking place yearly; bMediation, 2016) and the Netherlands

(51,000 mediations taking place yearly;VanderZeijden&Vogels,2019), two Western-European

countries that are commonly considered similar in several respects (e.g., Hofstede, 2011;

Tollebeek, 2010).

One factor at the basis of the implementation success of mediation as a form of dispute resolu-

tion could be found in the attitudes people hold toward mediation. Attitude conceptualizations dif-

fer in several respects (for a review, see Bohner & Dickel, 2011) and have changed over the years,

with recent definitions reflecting the generally agreed-upon core of attitude, such as “aperson's

evaluation of an object on a favorable to unfavorable continuum”(Albarracín & Shavitt, 2018,

p. 300), while other definitions elaborate further, for example “an idea charged with emotion

which predisposes a class of actions to a particular class of social situations”(Triandis, 1971,p.2).

The latter definition suggests that an attitude consist of three subdimensions, namely (1) a cogni-

tive subdimension or the cognitive evaluation of the favorable or unfavorable nature of the topic

(Albarracín & Shavitt, 2018;Triandis,1971), (2) an affective subdimension or the feelings and emo-

tions about the topic (e.g., likes and dislikes; Albarracín & Shavitt, 2018; Bem, 1970;

Triandis, 1971), and (3) a motivational subdimension, reflecting the intention for behavior con-

cerning the topic (Allport, 1935; Krech & Crutchfield, 1948;Triandis,1971).

The association between attitude and behavior has been studied for many decades (for a

meta-analytic review, see Glasman & Albarracín, 2006), and while the consistency of this link

has been shown to vary according to several moderators (e.g., whether attitudes are based on

direct experience or not; Glasman & Albarracín, 2006; Kraus, 1995) and the way attitude is

measured (i.e., implicitly or explicitly; Bohner & Dickel, 2011; Greenwald et al., 2009), attitude

has been regarded consistently as a way to explain behavior relating to the topic. Additionally,

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